Our DVD and Blu-ray sales estimates are based on weekly retail surveys, which we use to build a weekly market share estimate for each title we are tracking. The market share is converted into a weekly sales estimate based on industry reports on the overall size of the market, including reports published in Media Play News.

For example, if our weekly retail survey estimates that a particular title sold 1% of all units that week, and the industry reports sales of 1,500,000 units in total, we will estimate 15,000 units were sold of that title. The consumer spending estimate is based on the average sales price for the title in the retailers we survey.

We refine our estimates from week to week as more data becomes available. In particular, we adjust weekly sales figures for the quarter once the total market estimates are published by the Digital Entertainment Group. Figures will therefore fluctuate each week, and totals for individual titles can go up or down as we update our estimates.

Because sales figures are estimated based on sampling, they will be more accurate for higher-selling titles.

2014 Awards Season: Slave Hustles to the Top

December 14th, 2013

Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced their Golden Globe nominations this week, and a clear picture is forming. 12 Years a Slave was again the recipient of the most nominations, but this time it was a tie, as it and American Hustle both grabbed seven nominations. If you look down the list of other multi-nominated films, you will find a number of familiar faces. More...

DVD Sales: Iron Man Franchise Remains Golden on the DVD Sales Chart

October 12th, 2010

New releases walked away with the top two spots on this week's DVD sales chart, as well as four of the top six, and six of the top 30. Leading the way was Iron Man 2 with 2.82 million units generating $64.53 million in revenue during its opening week of release. This is weaker than its predecessor opened with, but the film compensated with stronger Blu-ray sales. More...

DVD and Blu-ray Releases for September 28th, 2010

September 27th, 2010

Like many retail businesses, the home market does most of its sales in the last quarter of the year. And while technically the fourth quarter doesn't begin until October, like any good business, the movie industry tries to extend its prime business season as long as possible, which explains why Iron Man 2 is coming out this week instead of next. Unfortunately, that screener is late and I won't be able to review it. (In fact, its one of those weeks where it seems more screeners are late than arrived on time.) There were plenty of other DVDs / Blu-rays that came out this week, but the presence of Iron Man 2 did scare away a lot of prime competition, so much so that I'm awarding it the Pick of the Week, specifically the Blu-ray / DVD / Digital Copy Combo Pack edition. More...

Red Riding in the Black on the Per Theater Chart

February 10th, 2010

The The Red Riding Trilogy opened on top of the per theater chart with $14,526 in one theater, but that was all three shows for one ticket. On the one hand, the higher ticket price would help its average. On the other hand, the long running time is a large impediment. Ajami opened in second place with an average of $11,931 while Terribly Happy was just behind with $11,650. The overall box office leader, Dear John, was the final film to reach the $10,000 mark with an average of $10,262. More...

Riding to the Rescue of Limited Releases

February 5th, 2010

With Oscar nominations announced earlier this week, most of the buzz is with previous limited releases expanding, including Up in the Air, Precious, Crazy Heart, etc. There are still a few releases on this week's list, but it is likely that they will all be overshadowed by the holdovers. More...